One of my biggest challenges, one I know is not unique to me, is figuring out where to start. I started my journey of learning how to make games back in 2016, graduating from Full Sail University in March of 2019. Since then, I have spent most of my time familiarizing myself with Unreal Engine and building prototypes of Adrift on Land, until the beginning of this year, 2024, when I started official development of the game. I learned a lot during that time, my studies at Full Sail University was in Game Art, and so, UE's Blueprints were new to me, along with multiple other tools and systems offered by the game engine; however, something I'm still not sure of is where to start. An almost inevitable part of learning something by yourself in this age is watching YouTube tutorials; unsurprisingly, I discovered numerous different approaches for every potential design, mechanic, or system you'd want to add to your game. Some devs (hobbyists and industry veterans) liked to use tonnes of placeholders, to help visualize, while others would spend a few months using nothing more than a capsule for a character so they could focus on mechanics and not be distracted by visuals, and still, others jump straight into world and level building, using that as their basis for deciding how the character will interact and navigate the game world. I'm sure there are pros and cons to all approaches, and there may even be a definitive best; however, I know the worst approach is to not start at all. As mentioned, I started the official development of Adrift on Land at the beginning of this year, 2024. I decided to focus on gameplay mechanics, using primarily placeholder art and animations when I felt it was necessary to visualize the systems at work, it's hard to figure out melee combat with no animations... This website and blog post is very much the same, I didn't know where to start, and I'm not even sure if this is the best time to start; but, I realized, it's better to start than not to. With all that said, I intend to keep going, and writing more blog posts, most will be focused on the development progress of Adrift on Land, specifically what I consider to be major milestones. Future blog posts should be less rambly, and more concise; although I write how I think, and that's a messy process. One day these may be written by a more eloquent community manager, and even though I'm currently in pursuit of funding, such a role would be amongst the last to look for... Looking for funding may have been a good topic for a blog post, but I think I'll save that for if there's any success or progress on that front.
Where to start? I don't know, but not starting is the wrong choice.
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